Fighting Lightning
by Thiendrah
Summary: While on a routine mission to capture a rogue Digimon, the Data Squad runs into to trouble when Marcus gets injured, and starts to have doubts. Can Augumon pull him out? English dub names. Rated T for violence and slight cursing. Please R&R.


Randomness abounds.

"Man! Nothing's happened for ages!" Marcus complained as he slouched in his seat, Augumon sitting on the floor munching on a sandwich. "I mean, I know it's a good thing that no digimon have come to this world for a while but come on, I want some action!"

"So what are you gonna do, Marcus?" Thomas asked snidely. "If no digimon appear then just go a beat up thugs like you always do." He continued typing in his data without looking up, Gaomon resting inside the digivice. "I don't understand why you feel this compulsive need to constantly be fighting someone or something and quite frankly, I don't care, but you're whining is getting on my nerves."

"I wasn't talking to you, Nerdstien!" Marcus shot back.

"Who then? The little voice in your head?" Thomas replied without missing a beat.

"What!" Marcus shot up in indignation.

"That's enough!" Yoshi slammed her hand down hard to make a bang. "You two are acting like little kids and I'm sick of it. Both of you, grow up!"

"You tell 'em, Yoshi!" Lalamon said, floating near her.

Before Marcus or Thomas could retort, Commander Sampson walked into stand behind the console, Kudamon on his shoulder. He looked at them silently, contemplating behind his dark glasses. A sudden alarm blared to his right, diverting his attention.

"Digimon data signal detected at the pier!" Miki said from her seat at the controls.

"Can you tell what digimon it is?" Sampson asked.

"It's MegaKabuterimon! An ultimate level digimon. Beware of his Horn Buster attack."

"Alright! It's fightin' time!" Marcus was pumped up for the battle.

"Right, boss. Let's go!" Augumon followed Marcus out the door and running for the pier.

Yoshi sighed. "I guess we'd better go too, otherwise they'll just destroy something." She digitized Lalamon and headed for the door.

"Honestly, why must we be forced to babysit that guy?" Thomas grumbled as he too followed Yoshi and Marcus.

MegaKabuterimon, a giant beetle looking digimon, was standing on the docks of the harbor, sending electricity into the water, watching as the electricity reached the boats on the water, and blowing them up.

"Hey, over here!" A voice called out behind him. He turned just in time for Marcus to slam his fist into his horn with tremendous power, knocking him off balance. "Heh, you ready Augumon?" Marcus asked, holding up a fist of DNA energy.

"Ready!"

"DNA, full charge!" Marcus released the energy into the digivice, shooting its beam at Augumon.

"Augumon, warp digivolve to…Rizegreymon!"

"Alright, Rizegreymon, let's do this!" Marcus shouted. Rizegreymon nodded and raised his gun.

"Trident Revolver!" Three shots of pure energy shot out of the gun heading straight for MegaKabuterimon. He saw the shots just in time and turned his back, his hard shell taking the attack.

"C'mon, Rizegreymon, we can do better!"

"Marcus!" Marcus turned to see Yoshi and Thomas with Lilamon and Machgaogamon behind them.

"What took you guys so long?" Marcus demanded impatiently.

Yoshi huffed. "Unlike you, we took a car and had to obey traffic laws while you were running down every alley and back way to get here!"

"You guys are just jealous that I was gonna take all the action. But don't worry, I left you plenty." Marcus smirked.

"In other words, you can't take it down on your own." Thomas dead-panned.

Marcus' eyebrow twitched. "Shut up."

"Pesky…humans." A voice rasped behind them. They all turned to see MegaKabuterimon holding one set of hands over the general area of his ears. "So…loud. It…hurts. Be…quiet! Horn Buster" His horn gathered electrical energy, he rammed himself at full speed into Rizegreymon, knocking him off his feet.

"Rizegreymon! Are you okay?" Marcus ran over to his fallen digimon. "You okay, pal?"

"I'm just fine, Boss." Rizegreymon got to his feet. "He's not gonna get me again!"

"Machgaogamon, back him up!" Thomas commanded.

"Sir, yes, sir!" Machgaogamon answered before lunging forward. "Wing Knuckle!" He punched the beetle just under the horn, forcing him back a few steps.

"Guess we got no choice but to help these hopeless boys huh, Lilamon?"

"You bet!" Lilamon floated next to Rizegreymon. "Marvel Shot!" The powerful shots forced him to once again turn and take it on his shell.

"Man, what's it take to break this guy's shell? What's it made of, diamonds?" Marcus fumed. It was frustrating, watching as his partner and his friends tried again and again, not getting anywhere. "What's it take?" He asked himself again.

A scream suddenly rang out from the docks. All eyes turned to see a little girl, no older than 7 with long black hair and blue eyes staring, frozen with fright at the scene before her.

"What's that kid doing there?! Wasn't this place evacuated?" Marcus shouted even as he ran for her.

"Marcus, don't just run off!" Yoshi cried after him. "It's too dangerous!"

"Another…noise." MegaKabuterimon rasped. "Go…away!" Lightening shot from his horn again, streaking straight for the girl who was too scared to move.

"Look out!"

The electricity hit Marcus in the chest full blast, lifting him off the ground as volts coursed through his body. "**Arrrrgh!**" Marcus screamed as the pain assaulted him, racing down his nerves over and over. He clenched his fists, neck and back arched backwards as he tried to cope with the pain, the blackness eating at the edges of his vision. The girl watched in horror as the electricity hit and was absorbed by the boy in front of her. The others were too stunned to even make a sound as their friend took the attack. The force of the attack sent him flying, his body doubling over itself as he was sent skidding down the wooden dock on his right side, embedding splinters in his arm. He stopped just before falling into the water, his head and left arm dangling just over the edge.

"Boss, NO!" Rizegreymon stared in shock as his human was blasted away. He made as if to go to him before a random bolt of electricity jumped from Megakabuterimon's horn to just in front of him, forcing him to stop.

Yoshi was the first to snap out her daze. "Lilamon, go get Marcus and the girl." she instructed her digimon.

"Right." Lilamon took off as Yoshi turned her attention back to the real problem of MegaKabuterimon.

"Thomas!" Yoshi turned to the other boy, hoping he'd understand.

"Right." Thomas nodded then instructed the other digimon. "Machgaogamon, Rizegreymon, you have to finish off MegaKabuterimon, quickly!"

"But, the Boss…" Rizegreymon strained against an invisible leash to get to his human.

"The best thing you can do for him now it take care of the one who hurt him!" Thomas reasoned. "If MegaKabuterimon's left alone, he'll continue to rampage and hurt someone else. Do you understand?!"

"Yes." Rizegreymon turned back to the enemy, new determination in his eyes. Machgaogamon put a hand on his shoulder in support. "Let's take him out. Trident Revolver!"

As they attacked Megakabuterimon, Lilamon quickly flew down the pier to Marcus. She eased her arms under his inert body, lifting him easily. She stood and backtracked to the little girl, who was still shaking with fear. She took a step back as Lilamon approached her. "Little one," Lilamon said to the girl gently. "We have to get out of here. Please grab onto me and I'll take you somewhere safe. Alright?" Another explosion made the girl duck down with a cry. When she opened her eyes again, she saw Lilamon still there, waiting for her. She nodded and grabbed onto to Lilamon around the neck, careful not to kick Marcus. She quickly flew back to where Yoshi and Thomas were waiting, a small alcove sheltered from the blasts of the fight. The girl hopped down and Yoshi grabbed her hand as much to reassure her as to keep her still. The girl's large blue eyes stared into Yoshi's dark brown ones, looking for something to that might keep her safe. Yoshi smiled and led the girl to kneel on the other side of her. Lilamon laid Marcus down as gently as she could. When he was finally there Lilamon noticed something. There was blood on her arm where his head had lain. "Yoshi, he's bleeding badly!"

Yoshi gently turned his head and saw a fairly large cut just behind his ear. "Thomas, you need to look at Marcus, now!" Yoshi pulled his attention from the battle with MegaKabuterimon (who had just gotten knocked down by Machgaogamon's Howling Blaster) and he rushed back to her side. He briefly glanced at where she indicated, focusing instead on his erratic breathing.

"That is problematic." Thomas told her business-like as he continued checking him. "Head wounds tend to bleed profusely, even if the wound isn't deep. I can't know how deep it is in this light." Thomas laid two fingers on Marcus' pulse in his neck. Before he could get too deep into his analysis of it, Augumon and Gaomon ran to them with a digiegg in their hands.

"Sir, mission accomplished." Gaomon informed Thomas. The digiegg in his hands was dark red with blue lightning bolts criss-crossing it.

Augumon ignored them all as he came kneel by his human, delicately lifting his right arm in his claws, eyes growing wide at the many splinters in his arm. "Boss will be okay, right?" He looked to Thomas for an answer.

Thomas didn't answer immediately, trying to get a reading on his pulse. "His heart rate is too fast. My guess is, that electric shock sent his heart into arrhythmia and then when he slammed into the dock, his heart got another shock, reestablishing the rhythm, but too fast, that's why his breathing is off." He switched his focus to Yoshi and the girl. "Yoshi, you need to take that girl home and erase her memories of this. Have Lilamon fly you. When you're done, meet us at Marcus' house."

"Marcus' house?" Yoshi asked, confused. "Shouldn't we take him to a hospital?"

"Ordinarily yes." Thomas looked back down at Marcus' gasping form. "There's only one problem. Augumon, I need you to lift his shoulders up." Augumon slid an arm underneath Marcus' shoulders and lifted him slowly.

"I don't get it, Thomas. What's the problem, why can't we take him to a hospital?" Yoshi insisted.

"Because of this." Thomas lifted up Marcus' shirt, and everyone gasped. Blossoming out of the center of his chest was a huge burn that spiked out in every direction, from the hollow at the base of his throat to his belly button, from one side of his waist to the other, and a dozen angles in between. Where his shirt had lain over was slightly scorched. "To any doctor in a hospital, that would basically be equal to a burn from a lightening strike. There's no way we'd be able to explain it without getting the digimon involved, there's no cloud in the sky, there couldn't have been any lightening. We're going to have to treat him ourselves." He lowered the shirt. "Yoshi, take the girl and go. We'll meet up later, understand?" He looked her dead in the eye to make sure she answered. Yoshi nodded and grabbed the girl before she could protest.

Once Yoshi was gone, Thomas turned back to the situation at hand. "Gaomon, in the back of the van, there's a first aid kit, go get it for me." Gaomon raced to obey, placing the egg in the van while he was there. "Augumon, I need you to keep holding him and take his shirt off. I'm going to bandage his chest first, then his head, then I'll pack his arm. I'll remove the splinters when we get home. I'm pretty sure Sarah has salves and disinfectants." Augumon nodded, letting Thomas rattle off things that he'd need and do, as Gaomon came back with the first aid kit, wondering if Marcus would be okay.

Thomas opened the kit and removed the bottle of alcohol first. He unscrewed the cap and held it over Marcus' chest. "This is going to sting him." He told Augumon. "If he's even the slightest bit coherent, he'll react to it, so be ready to hold him down." Augumon gulped but nodded. "Alright then." Thomas poured the liquid over Marcus' chest, Augumon tightening his hold on his shoulders, but the only reaction was a small moan of pain. Thomas frowned. "That's not a good sign." He recapped the bottle and reached for the cotton balls, dabbing up the excess. After that, he grabbed the gauze bandages and began wrapping his friend's chest. "Most people will have some reaction when alcohol is applied to a wound. That fact that Marcus' didn't really react makes me think that the shock from the electric attack did more damage than I originally thought. Either that, or he's so unconscious that it barely registered in the pain receptors of his brain. I'll know more when we get him home and I can see everything."

Thomas quickly tied off the bandage for his chest before moving on to his head wound. It looked small enough, but all the blood hid the true extent of the wound. He gently mopped away some of the blood before applying a gauze pad to it and wrapping it. Once he was done, he turned his attention to the arm full of splinters. He sat back on his heels for a minute, deciding how to handle it. He didn't wanna take out the splinters yet, until he was home where it was safer, but it wasn't safe to simply leave it exposed like it was, but how to wrap it…

An idea struck him. "Alright, I'm going to loosely wrap some bandage around his arm, just enough to cover the area of splinters. Augumon, when we put him in the van, you'll need to sit in the back with him and hold his arm level. If that area presses against something, it will drive the splinters in deeper, maybe even all the way through his arm. Do you understand?" Thomas asked Augumon. The digimon nodded, jaw set. "Gaomon, I need you to get the van ready for us to put him in. Once I've wrapped his arm, we're heading straight to the house."

"Sir, yes, sir." Gaomon saluted and ran back to the van to carry out his task.

Thomas turned back to Marcus' arm, using Augumon's clawed hand to hold it up and steady. The splinters started at his shoulder and went down to his wrist, with one or two small ones embedded in his hand. He wrapped the bandages around his arm as loosely as he could, creating a hill over the spikes of splinters. He taped it off just below Marcus' wrist, leaving the hand exposed. "Ok." He addressed Augumon. "I'm going to carry him to the van, I need you to walk beside me to hold his arm." Augumon didn't answer, but handed Marcus to Thomas gently as he could. Thomas ran one arm around Marcus' shoulder, making sure to go under the right arm. The other arm went under Marcus' knees. Augumon lifted Marcus' arm from the bottom, careful not turn the arm. They stood up together, walking very carefully back to the van where Gaomon had the door open and the back seat folded down. Augumon hopped in first keeping Marcus' arm level as Thomas loaded the rest of him in the back, making sure he was settled before going around to the driver's seat and starting up the van, Gaomon sitting in the passenger seat. "Everybody ready?" Thomas looked back to see Augumon holding Marcus and nodding to go.

"Let's get the Boss home."

The drive was quick, but not entirely painless. Every bump that the car hit sent a jolt through Marcus' body, bringing out a small moan each time. Augumon held Marcus' arm to keep it from brushing against anything, his other claw rested on his shoulder, trying to convey whatever comfort he could to his human. By the time they reached the house, a thin sheet of sweat coated Marcus' face, his eyes squeezed tight as he subconsciously took the pain.

Thomas parked the van and quickly ran to open the side door, eyes narrowing at the sight of his friend. He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped his face. "I'm sorry." He told the unresponsive boy. "Ok, Augumon, keep holding his arm and let's get him inside." He lifted Marcus out of the van and took a step back so that Augumon could come out as well. He looked over his shoulder to Gaomon. "Gaomon, get the first aid kit then go and open the door, but try not to make too much noise, it is pretty late."

"Sir, yes, sir." Gaomon reached back into the van and grabbed the kit before jogging to the front door, looking back to see that Thomas and Augumon were right behind him, and opened the door as quietly as he could. He stepped to the side to allow the others through and closed the door with a small 'thud'. That small noise alerted someone to their presence.

"Marcus, you home!" Keenan cried out in joy in his broken english. He came running out of the living room to greet his surrogate brother but stopped short when he saw what was waiting in the entry way. "What happened…" Keenan was frozen with shock, he just barely force out the question.

Before Thomas could answer, Sarah called as she came into the hall. "Keenan, what's wrong? Is Marcus home?" She walked into the entryway carrying a cup of coffee, which was promptly dropped as her hands flew to her mouth at what she saw. She ignored the shattered crockery and spilled liquid as she stared at her son, held in the arms of another. His shirt was gone and in its place were bandages wrapped around his chest, another bandage around his head, and another wrapped around his arm in such a way that it was obvious that something was impaling it. Sarah's eyes were wide, but Thomas couldn't bring himself to meet them for several heartbeats before he snapped out of it.

"Sarah, I know this is a shock and I promise I'll explain everything later," Thomas told her in a firm voice. "But right now, I need to treat Marcus. I need you to bring me whatever medical supplies you have. Bandages, disinfectants, burn salves, things like that and hurry!"

Sarah snapped out of her stupor and nodded, much calmer. "Alright, Thomas. Go up to Marcus' room, I'll bring the things to you. Keenan," She turned to the boy, a kind smile on her face. "Why don't you help Thomas?"

Keenan nodded, racing for the stairs before stopping short. "Sarah, what about broken cup?" The odd thought occurred to him, a small calm voice in this hectic situation.

"Don't worry about it Keenan. Just help Thomas." Keenan nodded and did as she said, Thomas and Augumon following. Gaomon lingered behind.

"Sarah, I will clean up this mess after Thomas has Marcus settled, if that's acceptable?"

Sarah stopped short. "Yes, that would be very kind, Gaomon." She answered, the smile on her face strained at the mention of her son.

Keenan opened the door to Marcus' room and quickly stepped aside to let Thomas and Augumon through. Because of the position of the bed and Marcus' injured right arm, laying him on the bed was a problem on it's own. Thomas finally figured out the answer, turning around, Augumon turning as well, so that his back was facing the bed. He then sat down, laying Marcus' legs on the bed; he supported him at the shoulders as he maneuvered out from under him and laying his head down. Augumon laid the arm down next to him. Gaomon stood at the door holding the first aid kit.

Thomas went and quickly took it from him. "Thanks, Gaomon. Please go and clean up that mess down stairs." Thomas' voice was strained, but Gaomon didn't question and nodded, hurrying off to clean up the mess. At the top of the stairs, he stood to the side to Sarah, holding a bucket of supplies, could pass. She turned her kind smile on him and he raced down the stairs before anyone could see his blush. Thomas turned to Sarah. "Where is Christie?" He was worried about what affect the state of her brother might have on the girl.

"She's eating dinner with some friends. It's one of their birthday's." Sarah explained. "She should be back in," she checked her watch. "In an hour and a half. Thomas, perhaps when she gets back, you could tell the both of us what happened?" She half-suggested half-asked. Thomas' eyes widened fractionally, realizing that the woman was giving him time to compose himself before answering to her and her daughter. He nodded silently. "If that's settled, I'll get out of your way and go and make everyone a midnight snack, alright?" She asked Augumon this time.

Augumon lowered his eyes to the floor. "Thank you, Sarah."

Thomas sighed after Sarah left the room, and pulled Marcus' swivel chair up next to the bed. He unwound the bandage from Marcus' head, inspecting the wound. As he thought, it was only a small cut, barely half an inch long and only about a centimeter deep at it's deepest point. Thomas swabbed the area with alcohol and placed a gauze pad on it before wrapping it again with a fresh bandage. He looked to the arm now. He searched through the first aid kit to find the tweezers. He carefully unwrapped Marcus' arm, placing all the bandages to the side. He held Marcus' arm out to the side of the bucket, empty of supplies now, and began carefully extracting the splinters one by one, bringing up small rivulets of blood with some of the deeper ones. The task was time consuming, but Keenan stayed and wiped away the blood when it got too much for Thomas to see, Augumon's claws being too large for the task. Instead Augumon stood at Marcus' head with a small folded towel and wiped away the sweat on his brow as he unconsciously fought the pain.

Thomas dropped the last splinter into the bucket and gently wiped the arm of blood before swabbing with alcohol and bandaging. "Ok, now that those are done, Augumon, hold him up again. Keenan, I need you to remove the bandages. I'll get the burn salve ready."

"'Burn'?" Keenan, not knowing what happened, didn't understand why it was needed. Thomas didn't answer as he applied the salve to a large gauze pad, so Keenan did as he was instructed and unwound the bandages from Marcus' chest, eyes widening as he saw the star shaped burn from the lightning attack. He turned to Thomas. "Will he hurt when he wake up?"

Thomas paused in his preparations. "Most likely. I have pain killers with me, but I don't know if that'll be enough. I'll have to ask Sarah if she has any."

"She does!" Augumon piped up, drawing their attention to him as he held up Marcus. "I remember, she had twisted her ankle a little while ago and she had some pain killers left over that the doctor gave her."

"Alright," Thomas said as he walked over with the treated pad. "I'll ask her about it when I'm done with Marcus." Keenan stepped back as Thomas carefully placed the pad on Marcus chest, being sure to cover the the entire burn. He held it in place as he turned to Keenan. "Ok, hand me the roll of bandage over there." He nodded to the supplies that Sarah brought. Keenan obeyed quickly and Thomas set about wrapping his chest. When he was done, he instructed Augumon to lay Marcus flat on the bed again. "I'm going to go as Sarah about any pain killers she has. Keep an eye on him."

Downstairs, Sarah stood over the stove, forcing her mind to stay on task. She turned when she heard the sound of footsteps behind her. She turned as saw Thomas standing there. She smiled gently. "Everything taken care of?" She asked congenially.

Thomas nodded. "For the most part. I'll know the rest of it when he wakes up. Speaking of, Augumon mentioned you might have some pain killers. I don't know if mine will be enough for him. Would it be possible…" He trailed off awkwardly.

Sarah's mouth tightened slightly before she loosened it. She nodded. "Yes, they're in that cabinet over there." She pointed with the stirring spoon she was using before turning back to the food. She tended the food for a few minutes as Thomas got down the medicine. "Thomas." She spoke up without turning around, stopping him from leaving. "How bad is he hurt? I mean, will he be in a lot of pain, or for a long time, or will…" her grip on the spoon was so hard her knuckles were turning white.

Thomas hesitated before answering. "He has no internal injuries and only a minor concussion. His heart did go into arrhythmia before but it has stabilized. He will have a bad burn on his chest that might scar but it won't interfere with his movements in any way and his arm will be just fine as well. As for the pain, it will hurt for a while but how bad I can't know until he wakes up."

Sarah nodded. "I understand. In that case, I'll hold my other questions till Christie comes home." As if her words summoned her, the front door opened and Christie came in.

"Mom, I'm home, and I brought Yoshi and Lalamon!" She called as she and Yoshi took off their shoes. Sarah and Thomas came into the entry way, which was now free of the broken cup. Christie looked up at her mom, confused by the sadness she saw in her face. "Mom, what's wrong. I didn't mean to be late. I'm sorry if I worried you-" She was cut off as her mom enveloped her in a hug. Yoshi quietly skirted around them to stand by Thomas.

Sarah pulled back from the sudden hug. "Christie, you need to know. Your brother is hurt, badly."

Christie's eyes widened. "What?" She whispered. "What happened? How bad is it? Will he be okay? Where is he? Can I see him?" Rapid-fire questions directed at anyone she though would answer her.

Thomas stepped forward. "Christie, why don't you and Sarah come into the living room. I'll explain everything." Yoshi placed a hand on his arm.

"No, Thomas. You've done enough tonight. I'll explain it to them. Just go and rest for a few minutes, and send Keenan. I'm sure he'll want to know as well." Thomas stared at her for a minute before nodding and stepping back and letting the women passed him before heading up the stairs, his hand still clutching the small bottle of pills.

He entered Marcus' bedroom to see Augumon and Keenan in almost the exact same places he left them. "Keenan." He addressed the boy. "Yoshi and Christie are here. Yoshi is going to explain everything, so go downstairs if you want." Keenan nodded and ran out of the room. Augumon fidgeted before he too started for the door. "Augumon?"

The digimon turned back to him. "I…It's just…" He looked down. "I wanna apologize to them." He said simply. Thomas nodded in understanding before he left.

Thomas sighed as he sat in the chair next to Marcus, leaning his head into his hands. He turned to look at Marcus. "You're a lot of trouble, you know that?" He asked the unresponsive boy. He reached out his hand and laid it on his throat, feeling the pulse there. "Well, that's almost back to normal, for you anyway."

As if he heard him, Marcus finally started stirring. His eyes scrunched before opening. The blurriness faded to reveal Thomas hovering over him. "Mmm, Thomas? What happened?" His voice was scratchy and thin, but definitely understandable.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Thomas asked.

"Uh.." Marcus thought. "MegaKabuterimon was at the pier and … he shot lightning… at… a girl!" Marcus' eyes went wide as he bolted upright. "Is she ok? What-ugh!" He cut himself off abruptly as his movements aggravated his burnt chest and set his arm throbbing painfully. He curled even further on himself, trying to relieve the pain, but that only seemed to cause more. He groaned in pain.

"Lay back down!" Thomas grabbed his shoulders and held him down on the bed. "Breathe you moron! I can give you a pain killer but not until you're breathing right!" Marcus tilted his head back to try and breathe deeper. "Okay, now, I'm going to place two pills on the back of your tongue and give you some water. Try to swallow it and not spit it on me."

Marcus glared at Thomas as he helped him sit up slowly, placing the pills in his mouth as he said and brought a glass of water to his lips. Marcus swallowed the pain killers, sighing as Thomas laid him back down. "What did I do to deserve the pain this time?"

"Oh nothing much." Thomas answered dryly. "Just jumped in front of about 4000 volts of electricity and go sliding across a wooden pier, embedding splinters in your arm." Marcus looked down at his arm, seeing it thickly wrapped in bandages. "You really are an idiot, you know that?"

"I'm sorry if I couldn't let a little girl get hurt by a giant digimon on a rampage." Marcus apologized sarcastically. His voice got serious. "Is she ok?"

"Yeah, she's fine. Not a scratch. Yoshi took her home and erased her memory."

Marcus nodded in acknowledgement. He looked around the room, noticing it was his own. "Mom and Christie haven't seen me, have they?"

Thomas paused before answering. "Sarah has. She saw you when I brought you in, so did Keenan. Christie just got home from a party or something so she hasn't seen you."

"And Augumon?" He noticed the lack of digimon.

"Downstairs. Yoshi returned and decided to explain everything to them. Augumon went to apologize."

"'Apologize'?" Marcus repeated. "Apologize for what? He didn't push me in front of the lightning, it's my own fault. Why is he apologizing?"

Thomas shrugged. "He didn't say. He just went down to do so."

Marcus sighed, eyes closed. "I'm sorry." He groaned.

"What?" Thomas couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"I'm sorry." He repeated. "I'm sorry I got hurt. I'm sorry I made everyone worry. Mom and Christie, they don't need be worried about me."

"Marcus, what are you saying?" Thomas was a little worried now. Whether it was the slight concussion or the pain meds, Marcus was acting very…not normal.

"I never wanted anyone to worry 'bout me." Marcus confessed. "With Dad gone, I wanted to be able to take care of them, but I'm just causing them more problems. And you and Yoshi too. I'm really sorry."

"That is it!" Thomas shouted. He gripped Marcus by the shoulders, putting just enough pressure to make him look. "You really are an idiot! And you know why? You actually think you can do everything yourself. You think it's some kind of weakness to ask help from others. You think you worried your mother and sister unnecessarily? Then stop doing things on your own! If you would ask me or Yoshi for help, I guarantee we will. You are not the only one who cares about Sarah and Christie and you are not the only one capable of fighting." Thomas was finally calming down as continued ranting, Marcus just laid there and listen to it all. "And one more thing, Marcus. Worry about yourself for just one second. Ever since you woke up it's been someone else you've been worrying over. You're the one who's hurt, you're the one who needs to be worried over."

Marcus nodded dumbly. He was silent for a few minutes before finding his voice. "How bad is it?"

Thomas pursed his lips before answering. "The electric attack hit you in the chest, there's a star shaped burn there, and it's why it hurt when you sat up, you pulled on the edges of the burn. You also went skidding across the pier and got a couple dozen splinters in your arm that were in pretty deep. They've been removed so no worries there. You also had a small cut on your head, but thankfully only a mild concussion. All in all not really bad except for one thing."

"And that was?" Marcus asked suspiciously.

"When the lighting hit you, your heart went into arrhythmia, and when you slammed into the pier, your heart was shocked again and regained its rhythm. But your pulse has stabilized now, but you won't be able to do any strenuous physical activity for a couple of weeks or it'll strain your heart too much."

"Arrhythmia? That's when my heart isn't beating in any rhythm right?" Thomas nodded. "That is fatal, isn't it?" Thomas nodded again slowly and the gravity of the situation finally sunk in: If he hadn't hit the pier, his heart wouldn't have gotten the second shock to stabilize, he'd be dead.

Thomas sighed. "I'm going to tell the others you're awake. Stay still and try not do anything stupid for five minutes." He tried to joke, but there was no humor in his voice.

Downstairs, Thomas came into a room of complete silence. Augumon knelt prostrate before Sarah and Christie who were on the couch, both an inch from crying. Yoshi and Keenan sat on the love seat with Lalamon and Falcomon sitting at their feet. Gaomon was in the kitchen doorway. Yoshi was the first to notice him.

"Thomas! How is he?"

Sarah and Christie stood up and he addressed them directly. "He's awake and he's talking. He's going to be alright." A smile lit up Sarah's face as she walked to the stairs, Christie right behind her. "Sarah, wait." She stopped and looked at him, a question in her eyes. "I gave him some pain medication so he might be a little…odd." He said, finally deciding on an adjective.

"If that's the case, then he's just fine now." Christie joked.

Sarah turned to her. "Sweetie, why don't you go up first, I'll be right behind you."

Christie nodded and ran up the stairs. Before Thomas could ask why she stayed behind, Sarah threw her arms around Thomas and hugged him close, a tear ran down her face. "Thank you." She whispered. "Thank you for bringing him home, for taking care of him, for taking care of all of us. Thank you so much." She pulled back and quickly kissed him on the cheek, as he'd seen her do for Marcus, before she too quickly ran up the stairs. Thomas stared after her before going back into the living room and practically falling on the couch with a sigh.

"You ok, Thomas?" Yoshi asked as Gaomon walked over to stand by his human.

"Me? Yes. Marcus? I don't know." Thomas answered shortly.

"What you mean?" Keenan asked. "You said he awake, that mean he better, right?"

"Are you aware he's got this little self-esteem issue?" Thomas asked rhetorically. "When he woke up, his first question was how everyone else was, and if his mom and sister saw him and were traumatized by it. He kept talking and said he did things on his own because he didn't want people to worry about him. He said that with his dad gone, he had to take care of them but instead all he does is cause problems for them and us."

"What?!" Yoshi and Keenan shouted together.

Thomas nodded. "He just kept apologizing for it, over and over."

Yoshi turned to Augumon. "Did you know he felt that way, Augumon?"

The dinosaur digimon looked at the floor, and nodded. "Sorta. I mean, I knew he wanted to take care of everyone, but not about the causing problems thing."

"But Marcus does take care of everyone!" Keenan broke in. "And he good at it. Why he think he problem?"

"Probably because he doesn't realize he's too good at it." Falcomon answered. "Think about it, Keenan. He has said over and over that he'll do whatever is necessary to protect his friends and family. And sometimes, like this time, 'whatever is necessary' means forgoing his own safety to ensure the safety of others. It's only after the fact, like now, that he realizes that him getting hurt makes those around him worry."

"But," Lalamon said from Yoshi's lap. "Why hasn't he said anything about it before?"

"Because he's never been hurt this bad before." Gaomon said.

"I don't think that's even it." Thomas said, closing his eyes in frustration. "I don't think it's so much that he regrets making people worry so much as he thinks that getting hurt will interfere with him protecting others. He's just that brand of idiot."

Keenan looked back and forth between Yoshi and Thomas. "Can we help?"

Thomas scrubbed his hands over his face as he sighed again. "I don't know." Thomas said tiredly. "And if we could, I don't know how. I'll talk to Sarah and Christie later about it. Till then, let's just wait and see."

Up in Marcus' room, Sarah sat in the chair next to his bed while Christie stood next to her. It was silent for a few minutes as they gathered their thoughts. Marcus couldn't bring himself to look them in the eyes, until he looked over at his mom and saw her crying. His eyes went wide and he raised a hand to wipe away her tears.

"Mom, please don't cry." He smiled at her, like everything was fine. She was startled but before she could say anything, Christie broke in.

"You really are a giant doofus!" She yelled at him. Marcus blinked at her. "You just had to get hurt, didn't you! You probably weren't listening to Yoshi or Thomas because you just jumped in front of lightening! When I was told you were hurt, I thought you might be in serious trouble!" Christie was crying now. "Why can't you just be careful and take care of yourself and set a good example like normal big brothers?!" She slid to her knees crying as she hastily wiped her eyes of tears that kept coming. "Why can't you just not get hurt?"

Marcus just laid there dumbly, listening as his sister listed off a litany of his stupidities, not even trying to break in or interrupt her. When she finally broke down crying, before Sarah could even reach over to put a hand on her shoulder, Marcus had a hand on the top of her head, gently rubbing her hair. He smiled when she finally looked up at him. "You're right, Christie. I guess I am a doofus." He chuckled. "But look at it this way: who else do you know that has a big brother as cool as me?!"

Christie stared at him with wide eyes, before a small chuckle escaped her. Before she knew it, she was laughing with him, Sarah just smiled at them, glad to know her children were safe. She placed a hand on Christie's shoulder and the other on Marcus' hand. If only for a minute, the family could laugh again.

Thomas was just dozing off on the couch when Sarah and Christie came back down. Yoshi and Keenan looked at them. Sarah nodded, "You can go up and see him, if you want." They smiled and got up and headed for the stairs. Augumon, who had been standing catty-corner from the kitchen door, also walked toward the stairs. He paused half-way and turned back to look at Sarah. She smiled at him and he continued up. Up in Marcus' room, Keenan quietly opened the door and peaked in. He saw Marcus laying on the bed. He turned, hearing the door open, and smiled when he saw them.

"Hey guys!" He raised a hand in greeting.

Keenan smiled and ran to the bed. "Marcus! You better now?"

Marcus smiled sheepishly. "Ah, well, not completely." He admitted. "But I'll be fine, so don't worry." He laid his hand on Keenan's head. Yoshi huffed and put her hands on her hips, drawing Marcus' attention to her. "Uh, Yoshi?"

Yoshi closed her eyes in frustration, before opening them and glaring at Marcus, causing him to gulp with fear. "I don't know if you're aware of this or not, but doing stupid things like that, when I'm around, means you're gonna get a beating!" She ended up yelling at him. "I thought I managed to break you of this stupidity habit, but apparently not! The minute you're better, I'm gonna work you so hard, you'll wish you were still bed ridden! Do you hear me, Marcus Daimon?!"

Marcus grimaced as he shrank against the bed, trying to scoot as far from Yoshi as he could without aggravating his injuries. Keenan had kinda skittered to the side to get out of the line of fire. "Yes ma'am. Understood ma'am. Won't happen again." Marcus squeaked out as he literally saw flames in Yoshi's eyes.

And like someone flipped a switch, Yoshi blinked and smiled brightly. "Good. Well, I'm gonna get the digiegg to HQ and file the report. You rest and let your mother take care of you, ok?" The last was said with a little venom, making Marcus swallow and nod quickly. She turned and left the room. Keenan gave Marcus' hand one last squeeze and a smile before he left too. That just left one person.

"Augumon?" Marcus tilted his head as far as he could to see the digimon in the corner. "You ok, pal?"

Augumon shuffled forward. "Uh, Boss…I" Augumon trailed off, keeping his eyes on the floor.

Marcus raised an eyebrow. "Uh, Augumon, you alright over there?" He lifted his hand off the bed and reached for Augumon only to have the digimon back away quickly. "Augumon?" Marcus was worried now. Augumon started fiddling with his claws, mumbling something that Marcus couldn't hear, never lifting his head. Marcus frowned. "Augumon, please, tell me what's wrong?"

Augumon squeezed his eyes shut. He didn't want Marcus to be kind to him, or be his friend. He wanted him to yell at him, hit him, hate him forever, swear to never see him again. He felt it was the only way to atone for letting this happen to his human. Marcus reached for him again. "Don't!." Augumon finally opened his eyes and looked at Marcus, whose had was frozen in the air. "How can you still care about me, Boss? I let you hurt! You could've died! And it all would've been my fault." Fat tears were rolling down his cheeks. "You should hate me!" Marcus just stared at him before smiling gently.

Marcus levered himself up and staggered to his feet. "Boss, stop!" Augumon rushed to him, trying to push him gently back into bed. "You have to rest, you'll hurt yourself!" Marcus ignored him and instead knelt down and grabbed the digimon in a crushing hug. Augumon felt his human's muscle tremble a little bit. "Boss?" What was Marcus doing? Why didn't he hate Augumon.

"I could never hate you." Marcus murmured in ear. "I got hurt because I chose to, because I couldn't stand to see a little girl, no older than Christie, get hurt like that. You're my partner Augumon, and more importantly, you're my friend. Hating you would be like hating Mom or Christie, it's just impossible."

Augumon's eyes widened as he listened to Marcus before he started struggling out of his hold. "But Marcus, I'm your Digimon, my job is to protect you and I failed! I don't deserve to be your friend." Augumon took a few steps back, looking at the ground, claws fiddling with each other self-consciously. Marcus blinked a few times.

_That sounds like what I said to Thomas about me causing problems. It's my job to protect my family and friends but I keep messing up and causing problems._ He started chuckling, building up to full blown laughter until he started pulling at the edges of his burn wound.

"Boss? Are you alright." Augumon took a step forward to check on him when Marcus lifted his head and smile brightly.

"We really are meant for each other, Augumon." Marcus said between little fits of laughter. "We're both idiots who can't ask for help and then think we're worthless." Marcus finally stopped his giggles as Augumon lifted an eyebrow, not understanding. "I said the same thing when Thomas was up here earlier. I felt I kept causing problems for those I wanted to protect, I made them worry, and I didn't feel like I was fulfilling the hopes my dad left for me when he left. I thought it would be better if I were gone. But now I realize, leaving isn't the answer, asking for help is. I think it's ok to rely on other just a little now. Thomas, Yoshi, and Keenan, Gaomon, Falcomon, Lalamon, and you, I think maybe, I should trust you guys a little more, rather try to conquer the world on my own. I need to get stronger in different ways, ways that make me more useful as a _team_ player, rather than a solo one." Marcus pushed himself to his feet with a grunt and extended a hand to Augumon. "What'd ya say, partner? Wanna get stronger with me?"

Augumon looked up at Marcus with tears shining in his eyes before he blinked and got a determined look on his face before nodded. "Yeah!" He reached his claws out and grabbed Marcus' hand. "You bet, Boss! We'll get stronger and all of us together will protect everyone!"

Someone clearing their throat in the doorway drew their attention. Thomas, with Keenan and their Digimon standing behind him, glared at Marcus. "Get back in bed you idiot!" He stormed across the room, grabbed Marcus' good arm and pulled firmly, but gently, being conscious of the injuries on the other boy. "How are you going to get stronger if you just make your injuries worse?" He forced Marcus to lie down and smoothed the blankets over him. He straightened back up and looked Marcus in the eye, a serious look on his face. "Does this mean you've both finally pulled your heads out of your butts?"

Marcus smiled. "Yeah, we'll all get stronger, and protect both worlds."

Thomas nodded. "Hmm, you know it's gonna take time. You won't become a team player over night. You'll need to talk to us, and about more than just the missions we're on. You need to tell us when you feel overwhelmed, when you feel you can't do something. That includes your family, you're a part of it too. You don't have to stand on the outside a shield, you can talk to them too, if you feel it's too personal for us. Do you finally understand?"

"Yeah, I got it. Now let me sleep Nerdstien." Marcus threw one last glib before feeling the pain meds pull him down. Augumon sat down next to the bed, guarding his human as he slept. Without a word, Falcomon and Keenan sat down next to him as Thomas left, knowing that the idiot was in good hands.

"Sleep well, the real work starts tomorrow."

And a semi-happy ending! Yay!


End file.
